tried out the new studded tires today. gotta tweak tire pressures, and get mindset back into riding through slop and not on dry roads.

getting to the end of my street was just as dangerous as ever, but after that i was almost fearless riding down wilson-lincoln-wells-division, pretty confident on dearborn, and pretty sure i wouldn't die for half block of maple.

not sure i would have tried the commute on anything less though, and was not interested in trying out the side streets.

I was out Monday, not too many other bicyclists out. I usually take Clinton (S) to Washington (E) to Wells (S) but instead took Kinzie (E) to Wells (S) as it was a little clearer. With snow like this I'm biased towards anywhere under the El tracks as those roads stay pretty clear.

I actually thought the evening commute was a little trickier as some of the slush and snow started to freeze up, combined with the usual idiot drivers in the dark no less.

I rode today, but it was kind of foolhardy. Lots of ice on the less heavily traveled streets, and the bike lines were, at times, used as snow dumps. My last leg is a few blocks down Franklin around Chicago. I had to get off and walk. I'll probably take Metra home.

i rode today for the 1st time this week. 6 miles of my 8 mile commute route are along the north shore channel path from lawrence up to church st. in evanston.

the chicago portion of the path had been half-assed plowed, but not salted so it was an icy rutted-footprint mess in spots, covered by the 1/2" of new snow we got last night for extra wintertime fun. praise jeebus for my schwalbe marathon winters and their 248 studs per tire!!!

up in lincolnwood/skokie the path had been plowed and salted, so conditions were much better, though still some significant patches of icy ruts along the way there too, so the marathon winters proved their worth there once again.

even with all of the icy danger, it was still a hell of a lot more fun than riding metra!